Before The Madness
by LittlebittyyPrincesskiller
Summary: Hope Miller lived a quiet life in Gotham. For 16 years she was a nobody, passing unnoticed through the school hallways. That was until a new kid by the name of Jack Napier came into the picture. He was different, that was obvious. Jack was the first person to take an interest in a girl like her. Will they connect? And is she the reason behind all the madness to come? Pre-Joker.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi there fellow Joker lovers! This is my first fic, so please don't hate. I thought it was interesting how there aren't many Jack Napier origin stories on here, so I decided to start one! I think I shall say since Heath Ledger was** **28 when he... excuse me, *sob* *sob* died in 2008, that Jack Napier was born in 1980, and that the story starts in the year 1996. I HOPE you like this first chapter...**

Gotham was an interesting place to live. One street you turned onto was full of crime and the homeless, then the next was overbearing with the elite and high class. Hope Miller had lived in Gotham her whole life, and it had always confused her so. The system was obviously corrupt, and it seemed like no one had any interest in changing it.

Hope had lived there for sixteen years, along side her mother Holly, and her identical twin sister Faith. Yes, her mother named them Hope and Faith. It was a request from their father, who lost a seven year battle to pancreatic cancer before they were born.

Hope looked at herself in the mirror that was perched upon her dresser, carefully stroking her green hairbrush through her soft blond hair. She loved watching the strands of her hair fall every so gently onto her shoulders. She heard a low groan come from behind her, and spun her head around to see Faith impatiently hovering in the doorway.

"Hope, you have been brushing your hair for ten minutes." She spat at her sister. "It's my turn." Faith had always had an obsession with her looks, and if Hope had a longer time in front of the mirror, oh how she would blow her gasket.

"I'm sorry Faith." Hope gave into her sister as she usually did in their morning routines. "But it's just that I was going to do a little more than just brush my hair today." Hope had wanted for so long to experiment with her sisters endless amounts of makeup, more so when she realized some of the guys at her school had started to take an interest in her. Oh well, maybe another day. She removed herself from the seat at the mirror, grabbing her usual purple-rimmed, circular glasses that seemed to take up her entire face.

Faith went right into her morning essentials, piling on product after product, looking always like she did as a goddess. Faith and her were exactly the opposite. Faith was one of those preppy girly girls who seemed to have the world on their shoulders. She had the looks (even though they were identical twins), and she had all the popularity at their school, Gotham High. Well, what do you expect from the head cheerleader? Hope on the other hand, was a loner that hardly paid attention to anybody. She was the nerd of the school, who got the highest grades and then passed through the halls unnoticed.

The only person who talked to her at school was Faith, but that was only because she was her sister and was morally obligated to.

Hope watched from the other side of their shared bedroom as Faith finished prepping herself for school. She always looked so gorgeous; Hope always wanted to look like her sister did. She could if she tried hard enough, but Hope took pride in her excelled grades, and would rather have her nerdieness than a beautiful physique.

"So…" Faith had begun, applying her usual deep shade of red lipstick, "Luke Tanner has been asking me about you."

Catching her attention, Hope exchanged glances with her sister, a wry smile forming at the corners of her mouth, "Really?" Luke was one of the football players, and oober hunky. "What about?"

"Oh…" Faith giggled while applying her charcoal eye shadow. "He wanted to know if he could borrow your history notes this week. He's so stupid, but you gotta love him."

Hope felt her smile fade into a scowl. She hated when Faith would tease her like that. It was one of the things that diminished her self esteem. Faith only laughed it off, returning to the mirror to complete her work while Hope climbed onto her bed to pack her backpack.

Faith checked herself over not once, but twice to make sure she was nothing shy of perfect, "Hey Hope, you should get a boyfriend." She turned to give a wide smile to her sister.

Her? A boyfriend? She had to hold back a laugh. Hope never dated. She'd never even had a boyfriend before. Unless her boyfriend in kindergarten she was with for a week before he spilled grape juice on her counted. Sure she found some guys attractive and she wouldn't mind being with someone, but she never had time for that. She was convinced it would make her grades drop, and besides, she liked going unnoticed. She was like a breeze in the wind; you can't see it but you know it's there.

"Come on. Just look at me and Ryan." Faith added, boasting about her _perfect_ relationship with her _perfect_ jock boyfriend.

"Ryan and I." Hope had to butt in, being a grammar freak. "I'm fine. Besides, who would want to be with the nerdy girl?"

"Hope, don't degrade yourself like that. Any guy would be lucky to have you as his girlfriend." She tried to sound peppy, but even she couldn't hide the bit of lost hope she held for her twin. Faith loved her sister, but Hope was a helpless dork, and she knew it.

In sync, they wrapped their bags around their sides, both fighting to get out the door first. Ms. Miller saw the playful antics of her daughters, trying to calm them down before they walked out of their house. It was nice having a decent place to live, and since their mom worked at Wayne Enterprises, they were never without money. They weren't rich by any standards, but they could get along easily.

Both girls slid into Faith's pink, Malibu Barbie corvette, and pulled out of the driveway. Hope clung nervously to her over sized grey sweater, while Faith superbly guided the car along the busy roads. It was funny for Hope to think about the odd fashion choices that her sister made. She always had on these skimpy skirts or dresses, while usually bearing a tight tank top and way too high heals. She didn't want to call her sister a slut or anything, but sometimes, she just looked like a real slut. Hope felt content with her normal look; big lumpy sweater with a t-shirt underneath, fitted boot cut jeans, and her favorite pair of black converse.

Within ten minutes they made their way into the crowded school parking lot. Every parking space was filled with a different clique, ranging from bikers to jocks and cheerleaders. Before school, majority of the students would pile into their cars and just hang out since it wasn't time to go in yet.

Faith, being the most popular girl in school, immediately had her best group of girlfriends meeting her at the car. "Hey guys!" they hugged incessantly, like they hadn't seen her in a year, even though it had only been a week end. "Bye Hope!" Faith squealed while meeting her boyfriend Ryan. She jumped into his arms, giggling like a child. Sometimes it made Hope want to puke at how cutesy they got with each other.

Hope stumbled from the car, bringing her backpack over her shoulders. She silently made her way to the stairs that led into the school, seating herself down on the bottom step. She pulled out her favorite book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a classic she never got tired of reading, and flipped it open to where she left off the day before.

* * *

Hope scrambled to get to her locker, squeezing her way through rough housing guys and couples swapping spit in the hallways. She got to her locker, which was sadly in between two sweaty guys from the wrestling team. Hope had only just begun to pull her chemistry binder out when one of the guys had accidentally shoved her trying to get to the other guy. Her binder went flying along with all her papers, spreading evenly out along the hallway.

"Oops." Came from the bulky men standing above her, before they ditched without even offering to help. _Assholes._

She was likely to get a bruise on her back from being hit in the back by the wrestler, but she only shrugged it off. She crouched down to collect her things, when she noticed a pair of ragged tennis shoes like hers was standing deathly still in front of her.

Hope slowly lifted her gaze, eying the piece of paper the guy held in his hand. He was holding it out to her, but she didn't take it right away. Her gaze traveled upwards to see just who the person was. She saw his structured body; he wasn't built like one of the football players there, but was definitely fit. Her eyes darted to his curly, dirty blond hair which had begun to fall into his face as he waited impatiently for her to take her papers.

She reached out, gripping her homework and tugging it out of this new kid's hands lightly. "Thanks." Hope said as she stood up, noticing how tall this guy was. He was over six feet for sure, because even as she stood up he towered over her 5"7 frame.

He didn't even give a "your welcome" as he darted away. Hope watched this new guy curiously as he brushed his blond ends back, revealing a breath stopping scar along the side of his mouth. It was long and gruesome, extending to nearly his cheek, and made Hope take a step back, smashing right into her locker door. If she didn't have a bruise yet, she certainly did now.

The immediate thought of how he got the horrid scar began to flash through her mind, but she quickly threw it away because she had no time to think about such things. She would be late to class if she was distracted by something like that.

Hope's first class was chemistry, a class she had always excelled in. She found working with science fun, and hoped to one day become a chemical engineer.

She took her normal seat in the back of the room, passing Faith, who was sitting with one of her cheerleader friends. Hope never paid any attention to those girls, even though deep down she secretly wished she could be one.

"Good morning!" The teacher, Mrs. Montgomery spoke in an all too peppy tone. "How was everyone's weekends?"

The class hooted and hollered, each person trying to speak over the other. Hope never bothered to join in, considering her weekends were usually filled with staying home and studying, so she stuck her head back into Huckleberry Finn.

The door opened, but Hope never looked up, too enriched with the words she was reading. Every sound in the room came to a skidding halt, and you could really be able to hear a pin drop.

The whole class, exempt Hope, had their mouths dangling open, peering at the guy in the front of the room. He had an annoyed look on his face as he handed Mrs. Montgomery a note, gradually scowling at the rest of the class.

"Class," Mrs. Montgomery jolted her class awake from the obvious lack of focus. "This is Jack Napier. Jack, class. Class, Jack." Was her informal way of introducing him. "Now where to put you? Hm…. You can sit at Hope's table."

Hope had no idea what was going on as she was in too deep within the pages that surrounded Finn.

"Hope can you raise your hand please?" no response from her direction. "Hope?" zip. "Hope?!" Mrs. Montgomery growled in frustration, finally getting her attention.

It had startled Hope to say the least, causing her to drop her book onto the table, losing her page, "I'm sorry. Yes ma'am?" her eyes wandered over to Jack, looking over the boy who had given one of her papers to her. Her gaze couldn't help but fall back on his scar, but her mouth didn't gap open like everyone else's did.

"Jack, if you could take a seat next to Hope please." She perked up, patting him on the shoulder. He apparently didn't like that, giving her a sour glare as he staggered over to Hope's empty table. He plopped down in the seat next to hers, leaning back in his chair.

Hope eventually found her place in the book, and left a gum wrapper as her book mark before thrusting it into her messenger bag.

"Okay guys, pull out your labs from last week." The shuffling noise came from all around as the students searched through their belongings to find their lab. Mrs. Montgomery looked over at Jack, "I don't have any extra copies. But you can look on with Hope. Okay then, let's start the lab."

The lab they were doing this week was experimenting with melting points of different types of metals. Hope felt uneasy as Jack leaned closer to her, eyeballing her paper. It wasn't him that made her feel weird, it was his scar. She peered at him through the corner of her eye, examining the course skin, realizing that it made him look like the right side of his face was smiling at her.

"Ahem." She averted her gaze when he cleared his throat, noticing she hadn't started the lab yet.

"Sorry." She mumbled in his direction, pulling her sweater off and setting it along side her bag. Her Pink Floyd shirt was revealed from under the mess of yarn, alongside something else. On her left arm, and deep scar was placed so perfectly, in an exact line stretching from her shoulder down to the elbow. It was rigid and rough, and gave a dark pink color, almost matching the color of Faith's car.

It had happened over the summer when she did it. A construction crew was renovating her home. She accidentally tripped and her arm skid along a nail that hadn't been hammered down yet. The cut formed along the top half of her arm; she not only had to receive over one hundred stitches, but an excruciating tetanus shot for the rusty nail.

She felt self-conscious about it all the time, and always wore her sweaters to cover it up. Maybe that's why Jack's scar made her uneasy, it was because it had reminded her of the one along her arm, and of the immense pain it had brought her.

Hope grabbed two pairs of goggles, handing one to Jack, and putting the other on herself after taking her plush blond hair back into a high ponytail.

She could feel his eyes burning holes into her side, knowing he was tracing her long scar with his eyes. She disregarded him though, getting the supplies ready for the lab. She collected everything they needed, which included two test tubes, a Bunsen burner and six small cubes of the metals they were going to be melting.

Hope looked over the directions, turning the burner on to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. She placed one of the test tubes in the holder, and placed it over the flame to heat it for the first metal. Gallium was first on the list, and both waited patiently for the tube to heat.

"How did you get that scar?" Jack seemed to break the awkward silence from between them, but he never made eye contact with her.

Hope's hand instinctively shot to her cut, stroking its coarse texture. She was hesitant to tell him, but figured since they both shared such massive scars, she could let him know, "I slipped and fell onto a nail, and it um… it cut up across my arm." Her voice was cold as she silently replayed the horrid memory in her head. He took a last look at her arm, and she thought about asking him the same question. "What about you?"

Jack let out a sigh, reverting his eyes to the burner, "The temperature's too high." Giving her no response to her question, he turned the knob on the burner, decreasing the heat to a mere 85 degrees.

"What are you doing?" Hope couldn't help but ask. "The directions say specifically to put it on 92 degrees."

"The glass is going to break at 92." He said matter-of-factly, giving Hope a sly grin, and in return, she gave only a confused look. "Just watch."

_Okay. _She thought. _Is he like an expert on fire or something? _Within only a few seconds, a loud shattering sound came from the front of the room, along with a few screams. Then another tube broke, and another until all were nothing but broken pieces, except for Hope and Jack's.

Hope watched stunned as Faith jumped out of her seat, screaming for dear life, blood streaming down her hand. Mrs. Montgomery immediately jumped into teacher mode, grabbing paper towels and holding them to Faith's hand roughly. She led her out of the classroom, escorting her to the nurse's office.

Everyone was stuck not knowing what to do since the teacher had left, and ended up just chatting with each other about the craziness they had just witnessed.

With a shocked expression on her face, one from her sister having been hurt and another from this guy next to her, knowing exactly what was going to happen, she questioned her own knowledge. How was it that he, a brand spanking new student, knew to decrease the temperature and she didn't?

Mrs. Montgomery sprang back into the room, instructing her students how to carefully and properly dispose of the broken glass. She didn't even notice that their test tube wasn't broken.

Hope immediately shot up, begging to hear word of her sister, "What's going on with Faith? Is she okay?"

"Yes," the teacher assured her. "Your sister's going to be fine. She's just going to need a while to clean it all up and get a few bandages."

That was good to hear. But it was weird; she could feel a sting in her hand, as if the glass had cut her. It most likely had something to do with twins and how they can feel what the other one is feeling sometimes. Hope sat back down in her seat, eying Jack negatively.

"You guys twins or something?" he spoke. "Hope and Faith? Such, gen-u-ine names for twins." His gave her a sarcastic tone, which only displeased Hope even more.

She gave him a loud scoff, "My dad named us that right before he died thank you very much." He only rolled his eyes. This Jack guy was starting to rub her the wrong way, but she had to know how he knew about the temperature being too extreme. "How did you know that was going to happen?" she asked in just above a whisper.

He brushed his scraggly blond hair back, giving her a smile that distorted his scar, which gave him a sinister look, making Hope's insides churn, "Kitten, I never reveal my secrets."

**So, tell me how I did. Review, follow, and favorite please! Well, I mean you don't have to, but I'd really appreciate it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** **So guys, I like the response from the first chapter. Thanks to who followed, favorited, and commented. Sorry it's taken like 3 weeks to post the 2nd chapter, I hope you guys weren't starting to lose faith in my updating skills. Well, anyway, enjoy please! But first, I guess I should begin a disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do own any Batman related characters, or anything related to DC for that matter. I do however, own Hope and Faith. And anyone else that had never appeared in a Batman story.**

The rest of the class period flew by so fast it began to make Hope's head throb. Faith eventually came back with many bandages wrapped around her hand, but it was nothing too serious that needed stitches or anything. But sadly, she complained the entire class period about the pain.

And this Jack guy wasn't sitting too well with her either. They never really spoke again after her had called her that name, "kitten", and frankly she couldn't be happier. The way he had called her that, it sent an uncomfortable chill down her spine. And to make it worse, Hope could always feel his gaze wandering about her. She knew he was eye-balling her scar no doubt, but there comes a time when enough is enough. She wasn't gawking at his scar, so why was he so interested in hers?

"Hey, you all did a good job today with the lab." Mrs. Montgomery spoke to the class with a stressed tone from the fact that half of the test tubes had broken. "There's nothing left for us to do…. So you guys can just hang out for the remaining ten minutes of class."

Hope, being the incessant book worm that she was, immediately pulled out Huckleberry Finn, attempting to get back into the place she was before class began. Being absorbed in a book never came as easy to her as it had then, but sadly it wouldn't last.

"You're a major bookworm, aren't you?" Jack's voice made her lose focus of the pages she was swimming in.

Didn't he have anything better to do than interrupt her? She was hesitant to talk to him again, but knew it would be rude not to, and she was NOT a rude person. "Um… I guess so." Her eyes left the book for two seconds, making direct eye contact with him. "I just like reading is all."

His scar glared over at her, still making her cringe. "Let me guess, you're one of those braniacs, who think they know it all?"

She scoffed loudly in his face, becoming very agitated at his remarks about her. "No, I don't think I know it all, and you shouldn't assume something about a person you hardly know."

He only chuckled at her comment, obviously enjoying her frustration. "Sorry buttercup, I didn't mean anything by it." Great, another nickname, this guy was full of them. "So, what book are you reading?"

Hope tried sticking her face as far as she could in her book, hoping he would get the message to let up on her. She could feel his eyes scanning her face, and eventually gave in when she reached the peak of his uncomfortable stare. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, why? You don't look like the kind of person that is interested in books."

"Hm…. Now look at who's assuming something about a person they don't know?" he gave her a dashing smile, well, it would have been if his scar hadn't had distorted it.

She finally had to put her book down, determined to win this little feud of theirs. "Oh, I know of your kind buddy. You're one of those bad boy types that like to get into fights, right? You probably don't take school seriously, or anything seriously for that matter."

"Ouch, that hurt. But you were spot on, except you left out one little detail." He snickered near her ear, relishing in the way in made her feel uncomfortable. "I guess you just forgot, seeing that you know everything about me, that guys like me don't care what people think about them."

Well she had already figured that one out. How else would he be able to walk around every day with that scar so clearly strewn across his face, having people gawk at it like he was an alien? Feelings came to her about the scar once more, and she began to feel sorry for him. Then she realized he was kind of like her, in that they both didn't bother over what people thought of them.

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts, noticing how she was zoning out, but in the direction of his structured jaw. She must've looked like such an idiot, so she quickly spat out a clever remark, "A man after my own heart. It seems we have something in common, strangely."

"You know Tiger; I'm starting to like you." He said in a low tone, just barely above a whisper.

"Okay, enough with the pet names please." It's not that she didn't like them, because frankly, no guy had even called her by her first name before, but this was just getting annoying. "Unless you want me to call you like Jackie Chan or something."

"Okay then, Hope." He snarled, emphasizing the "p" at the end of her short name.

Well, that was worse than him even calling her a nickname. "Wow, I can't believe I'd rather have you call me anything else but that." Hope pulled on her lumpy sweater, and untucked her hair from its cotton confines.

He chuckled slightly; indulging in the fact that she had just given him what he wanted. "Ah, but what to call you? I'll have to think this one over for awhile."

"Great." She said with a sarcastic tone, followed by a low, "Take your time." Jack didn't seem to say anything else after that, so Hope quickly opened her book back up.

She only got three lines read when a pair of hands slammed down onto the table in front of her. Hope shot her head up, meeting the eyes of Faith, who seemed disappointed at something. "Hope, what kind of sister are you? You didn't come see if I was okay." But Hope could tell she was only kidding. "I'm fine by the way."

"Well I'm very glad. Does it hurt?" Hope almost faced palmed herself. Of course it hurt; her hand was cut up by glass. Her sister gave her a look as if to say, "What do you think?" and her eyes followed over to Jack's lounging form.

"Oh, I'm so rude!" Faith burst out, a drop of spit landing on Hope's cheek. _EW. _"I'm Faith, and you're Jack, right?" Faith made sure of bending over slightly, very much knowing her boobs would be popping out. She always had to make it her mission to get everyone to like her, and follow her little cult and run the school.

Jack nodded his head, but his eyes never moved from her face. Hope was starting to like him yet; at least she knew with him he if she talked to him he wouldn't be like all the other sex-craved teenagers and just stare at her chest.

"I'm so sorry you had to be partnered with my twin sister," Faith made sure of adding the twin part. They both loved people knowing they were twins. "She's kind of a know it all. Sorry if she made you feel dumb, she does that a lot."

That made Hope laugh on the inside because of the irony. Yes, she normally corrected someone on something, relishing in the fact that she made herself look smarter. But in this case, it was Jack who made himself look smarter than her.

"So, um…. Jack." Faith went into total whore mode, moving closer to him. It completely shocked Hope when she reached over to his arm, gently squeezing the muscle in his upper arm. "Wow, you must be strong." Jack pulled his arm from her grasp, not enjoying the touch. "We could use a guy like you on the football team."

"No thanks." He growled, annoyed with Faith. But she was oblivious to his discomfort.

"Why don't you come sit at our table during lunch?" Hope wanted to slap her sister until she bled. Didn't she remember she had a boyfriend? And there she was, flaunting herself all over this new guy. "Maybe we can convince you to join a team. I'm sure you'd be good at anything."

Jack became increasingly uncomfortable with Faith's presence, glancing over at Hope, silently pleading with her to get rid of her sister. "Thanks, but if I wanted to sit around and eat with a bunch of sweating pigs I'd go to a sauna."

Her smile had faded, and now Faith stood looking down at Jack in disappointment. "Are you sure? I think you'd be really god for us."

"Don't you have a street corner to go stand on our something?" he so rudely spoke to her. Both Faith and Hope stared at him in bewilderment, their jaws dropping. Faith looked like she could punch him right then and there, regardless of the rules and her bandaged hand.

Hope was shocked by the amount of balls Jack had to say that to her sister. Hope had often wanted to tell her sister how much of a slut she could look like at some times, but never had the nerve to do it. She accidentally gave a little giggle out loud, and received a hurt look from Faith. She backed away from their table, sending daggers in Jack's direction as she sat back down with her friend.

She knew she had to do something, at least try to stand up for her sister. "That was harsh. You probably could have handled that better."

"Don't try to pretend like you didn't find that funny." He announced right before the bell rang throughout the school. "You know you were thinking it."

Hope collected her backpack, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she tried to control the chuckles that came out of her mouth, but it gave it away that she was indeed thinking it. "But now thanks to that little remark, she's going to hate me for the next week and a half." Picking her head up from rustling inside her backpack, she noticed she was talking to thin air. _Well, he wasn't much for conversation now was he?_ That was fine; she could probably handle having him in this class.

She strode out of the classroom, determined to find Faith and apologize to her. When she met her sister over by the lockers, Faith was giving her a look that could kill. "How could you do that to me?" she whispered in a yell. "You're my sister; I thought we always had each other's backs. He basically called me a prostitute, and you did nothing about it but laughed at me."

"Faith, look I'm sorr…." She was cut off when Faith slammed her locker, abruptly leaving and ending the sorry excuse for an apology. _Well this is just great. _But she was hopeful, _HA,_ that her sister would come around eventually.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, Faith was still giving Hope hateful looks. Hope was distraught that her sister was truly hurt, and really wished she would actually let her apologize, but it seemed like anytime she would approach her, Faith would ignore and turn her back on her.

Standing in the lunch line, Hope watched from across the lunch room as her sister gleefully sat on her boyfriends lap, as if nothing had happened between them. A teacher on lunch duty quickly made it her mission to separate the two, and Hope's gaze wandered back to the usual school lunch of chicken and mashed potatoes. She didn't understand what all the hate was with school lunches, because she thought they were pretty good. She made sure to grab a container of green beans and a roll so she could make a mini sandwich with all of her food products; something normal she did that Faith couldn't stand.

The lunch lady rang up her items, and she proceeded by paying the ridiculous amount of $1.50 for her meal. She slowly weaved her way in and out of the crowd, her sides occasionally being shoved in order for her to get out of the lunch lines.

High school was an epidemic Hope wished she could escape. It was full of unpredictable, sloppy people that could eat you. And even though she was good in school and understood everything, she didn't see how most of it would help her later in life. When would there ever be a moment later in life when she would have to analyze Shakespearian text?

She just wished it would be over, and that she could go to college already. She knew being a chemical engineer was what she wanted, and begged that she could begin classes at a university. Hope had already researched various schools around the United States, looking for those which had the best programs in engineering.

As much as wanted to get out of Gotham and explore the world, it seemed Gotham University had the best chemical engineering program. Oh well, as long at she got a good education, it didn't matter where she lived.

Getting out of the jam packed lines, Hope made her way to the table areas of the cafeteria. Even with the hundreds of students in the lines, there seemed to be no empty tables.

And she was most likely going to be given the silent treatment by Faith, and she just didn't feel like sitting at a table with a bunch of jocks who didn't even like her. Maybe she could sit with Jack. They had talked during first period, even if he wasn't her favorite person in the world, it was way better than having Faith mentally stab her in the heart.

But that would be awkward, considering they had only transmitted only a few short sentences between each other. So, she decided against it. Instead, she spotted a table in the back that no one was seated at. She made her way to it, passing Faith sitting at her usual table, surrounded by her stuck up cheerleader besties. Hope could feel her gaze burning holes in her back as she passed them, knowing very well that she was now upset that she wasn't sitting with her or trying to apologize…. yet again.

"Hey Hope!" she heard a perky voice come from behind call. She pushed her glasses up, and spun on her heels to see just who had summoned her. She met the eyes of one of the schools cheerleaders, one of Faith's friends, by the name of Kate, standing proud in her uniform.

"Yes?" she answered shyly.

"There's something on your sweater." she pointed down towards her stomach area.

Her eyes immediately shot down to her sweater, "Where?" she had only just looked down when her tray was violently knocked onto her.

"Right there!" the cheerleader cackled, along with everyone sitting at her table. "That was for your sister."

Hope let out a small shriek, the mashed potatoes flying all over chest. The searing hot brown gravy splashed across her face, and the juice from the green beans soaked her hair. She stood there with her mouth gaping out, trying to asses what had just happened. Hope could hear the sounds of laughter in the cafeteria, and through her caked lenses, she could see even her sister laughing at her expense. It hurt that everyone was laughing at her, but it hurt even worse that her sister was too.

Hope could feel the heat swelling within her, and the tears stung at the corners of her eyes. She couldn't take the embarrassment anymore, and felt her feet sprinting to the bathroom. She had never run so fast in her life; she could have been on the track team if she really wanted to.

Before she got to the door however, she stupidly took one look back, praying that maybe her sister would have stood up for her. But no, she was dying with laughter, clenching her sides because she couldn't stop. No one was letting up, but as her eyes roamed over the room one last time, she saw one figure that wasn't laughing hysterically. Despite the scarred smile upon his face, he wasn't making a sound. In fact, he seemed to have an apologetic look in his eyes.

She tore her eyes away from his swirling brown orbs, darting into the bathroom. She had made it just in time, her tears beginning to fall freely down her face. She grabbed a wad of paper towels, running them under the frigid water. Wiping away the burning gravy from her cheek and her glasses, she pulled her mashed potato covered sweater off and threw it in the thrash can.

Getting majority of the wasted food off of her body, she slumped into one of the stalls, sat down, and locked out the rest of the world from her broken physique. Choking out sobs, she placed her face into her hands, trying her best to calm herself down. She had never felt a betrayal like this before, and hoped she would never have to again.

**A/N:** **Aw, so sad. This has literally happened to me before a long time ago in middle school. It was so sad, but it's okay because the guy who did it (on purpose might I add) got like 5 detentions or something like that. So... tell me how I did! Was Jack okay? I mean, I want him mysterious, but not so much that no one ever knows what he's up to, ya know? Well, I must sleep. **

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**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, how's this for a quick update? I just wanted to thank all of you who have started to take an interested in my story! I would like to point out to those of you who do not….. That I don't expect this story to be amazing. I honestly didn't have any intention of this story being good. I was so surprised by the amount of positive…. Vibes, I guess you could say, that I nearly fainted. This was just something I had thought up in like 5 seconds or so, and just wanted to get it out. Okay, so without further adieu…**

**Disclaimer: Once again I do not own and Batman related characters. I'm not Bob Kane you know. But I do own the twins. (And it turns out there's this movie called Carolina Moon, and the twins in it are named Hope and Faith). Weird man.**

"Look, I don't want to talk about it." Hope called out, slamming the door to her shared bedroom, rocking the house. After that whole ordeal in the cafeteria, Hope had gone about the rest of her day, and came home on the bus instead of riding with Faith. One, because she couldn't handle even two seconds alone with her sister, and two, Faith was staying after school for practice.

"Hun, just tell me what happened." Her mom stressed to her, concern flowing out for her daughter as she pried open the door. "What did Faith do?"

Calming herself down, Hope plopped onto her bed, stiffly peeling her textbook from her bag. "Mom, it's nothing." Giving her daughter a stern look she knew she wasn't buying it. "Faith just….. Look I made a mistake and I paid for it the hard way." She fought hard to hold her tears back, "There was an accident with one of her friends, and my food got all over me. But it's fine, it was my fault."

"Okay sweetheart, as long as you're okay." Ms. Miller placed an apologetic hand to her daughter's blond hair, gently tucking a few strands behind her ear and placing a small kiss a top her forehead. "Well, I'll leave you to your homework."

Abruptly shutting the door, Ms. Miller left her daughter in peace while she worked on her notes for chapter seventeen of her world history book. She began zoning out of her assignment, trying hard not to think of the events of what happened earlier that day.

But her mind couldn't stop. The more she replayed it, the more she got to thinking of how it was all her fault. She didn't back her sister up when she was so blatantly called a prostitute, and however harsh it may have been, she deserved the food being dumped on her. She only wished Faith could have let her apologize sooner.

* * *

So when six o'clock rolled around and their mother had just begun making dinner, Faith marvelously strolled through the door, her hair worn up high, with a smile upon her face. Even with beads of sweat still glistening off her forehead, she still looked miraculous.

Hope tried searching her sister's eyes, and when they finally locked on to each other's, she motioned her to their bedroom. With only a silent act that was not known to their mother, they casually left the living room without a word.

"Look I didn't mean to…."

"Hope I'm so sorry…." Were both blurted out at the same time, each one missing what the other had said.

"You go first." Hope shot out before Faith could continue.

Wiping the sweat from her head, she closed the door, "Hope I'm such a.. a… a bitch!" she said a little too loudly, checking to make sure their mom hadn't heard her, before enveloping Hope in her arms. "I shouldn't have overreacted to that guys comment. I, I didn't tell Kate to dump all that crap o you if that's what you were thinking, and I'm sorry I laughed…."

"No, no, no!" Hope cut off. "I deserved it. I shouldn't have laughed when he said that. I should have backed you up like a twin is supposed to."

"This got so out of hand…."

"Look I deserved it." Breaking apart and looking at each other for only mere seconds, they both let out ferocious laughter, realizing how they must've sounded; each one trying to take the blame. "I guess we were equally to blame. We both acted like immature brats, and I'm so sorry."

Faith gave her sister another hug before grabbing a fresh pair of clothes from her dresser. "Can I just say that out of all the people on this planet that I could have been stuck with as a twin, I'm glad it's you."

"Ditto." Was Hope's reply as Faith leaped to the bathroom to shower.

* * *

The next day at school wasn't much better. Upon arrival, Hope was met with torments of the horrid yesterday. But they didn't last very long, because whenever Hope found herself being frowned upon by someone else, Faith would uphold her sisterly duties and tell the other people to "jerk off." Faith was being somewhat of a superhero, letting people know that if they messed with her sister they were going to get it.

So, it wasn't a question that Hope had to sit with her sister for sure during lunch. Normally she didn't like sitting with her sister's friends, and was hesitant because it would mean sitting with Kate. But, because Hope was feeling calmer about everything, and decided that she was going to attempt to make friends, she agree to eat lunch with Faith.

Getting her lunch, Faith called her sister over before she could leave the lines. "Hope, I'll meet you over at the table when I'm done here, okay? If anyone gives you any trouble, remind them that you aren't going to take any of their crap, got it?"

"Okay." she nodded, making her descent back into he cafeteria. Her gaze swam across the various tables until she found Faith's, and lucky for her, it was unoccupied. A small grin appeared at the corners of her mouth as she sat down, patiently waiting for the others to join her.

Hope brought her turkey sandwich up to her mouth, tugging at it with her teeth. She had only gotten one bite in when someone not so elegantly sat down before her. She looked up for a second, thinking it was Faith, but cursed on the inside when she realized that sadly, it was not.

She threw him a disappointed look that did not go unnoticed. "Oh, great it's my jerk. What do you want?"

"Uh, _your_ jerk?" he laughed, causing his scar to grow even wider.

"Yes." She bit her tongue, finally figuring out what she was agreeing to. "Yes to being a jerk. Not to the being mine." She should really think before speaking aloud. "That's not what I meant to say. What exactly do you want?"

He placed his palms onto the table in front of her, moving slightly closer, "Ace, I'm just curious about something." He bit the inside of his mouth, eyes darting around, like he was searching for something. "How is it that you and your sister are all buddies now, when yesterday you were both so ob-vi-ous-ly distraught?"

She peered at him, wondering where on earth that question had come from, or how it had to do with him. "We're twin sisters, we make up fast." Jack was genuinely making her feel uncomfortable now, asking personal questions to her when she'd only known him a day and a half. "But I don't see how this is any of your business."

"It's not," he said flatly, fixing his glare upon her, his brown eyes bearing into hers. "It's just interesting."

"What's interesting?"

He gave a small chuckle, his stare letting up on her. "Humans have so many emotions." She gave him a look, signaling that she had no idea where he was coming from. "It's just funny how two people can feel so negatively for each other for a while, and then quickly forget it all, like it never happened."

"Look, you're one to talk, considering it was your comment that started all of it." She felt her voice start to get higher, something that happened when she got angry. Like really angry.

"You didn't have to laugh." He pointed out, turning the table back to her.

If that's how he wanted to play it, "Yes I know I shouldn't have laughed. It was wrong on my part and I take the blame for everything. Even for the little misstep her friend took." She added under her breath, "But you could have kept that big mouth of yours shut."

Maybe a little to loud on her part, for he added it with, "Well then what would be the fun in that?"

"Look, if you're trying to make friends with me, you're not doing a very good job." She tugged at the end of her sweater; not a big lumpy one like yesterday, and waited for him to answer. She saw something flicker in his eyes, but she couldn't place what the little emotion was.

He bit his lip gingerly, brushing back his ends. "Who said anything about trying to become friends with you?"

"Well don't you? Isn't that why you're talking to me?" Hope looked past his scraggly blond hair, seeing Faith, alongside Kate, waltzing towards the table with a disgusted look upon their faces. "Look, why don't you go find someone else to bother. My sister's coming, and she doesn't like you very much."

"What about you, Ace?" he awkwardly shot up from the table, leaning close to her, increasing her discomfort.

She gawked at him, hoping that by some sheer will she could magically transport him somewhere else. But as for his question, she knew for sure his strangeness and dark appearance made her want to sprint away from him. "Bye Jack." Was all she said, and took his cue to leave before Faith showed up.

"Why was that asshole talking to you?" Faith questioned, seating herself next to her sister as Kate sat where Jack previously was. "He had better come to apologize or something."

Kate just sat across from them, listening in on what was going on. "No, he was just being a jerk." Her eyes traveled to Faith's friend, who was smiling widely, as if she had just committed a murder and was trying to cover it up. "Hello Kate." She said more to her sandwich than to her.

Faith looked over, gesturing her head for Kate to speak to Hope. "Hope, I wanted to apologize for my actions yesterday. They were completely out of line, considering it wasn't my battle worth fighting."

"S'okay." Hope had built up a little more confidence in herself to fully face Kate. "Look it's no big deal. It was actually pretty funny now that I look back on it." She was fibbing of course; running into the bathroom to cry definitely didn't make it funny.

Pulling her bag off of her shoulder, Kate stretched her arm inside, wriggling around through it's contents. Once she found what she was looking for, set a bracelet down onto the table. "since I have caused you so much trouble….." Hope took in the beautiful coloring of the garment, and how the purple string was braided so nicely with the green. "I thought I would give you this. I know it doesn't make it up, but….."

"It's fine. I will graciously accept it." She said whilst wrapping it firmly around her wrist, and securing it tightly. "Thanks, it's wonderful." Hope wasn't going to be fooled though, she still didn't trust Kate, or want to be friends with her for that matter.

"Hey babe." Faith's boyfriend, along with a few others sat down along with them. Ryan gingerly crashed his lips down onto Faith's; a bittersweet kiss. "So Hope, you better finish eating your lunch before Kate goes on another wild rampage again today." She only chuckled at his words, while Faith slugged him in the arm with an expression on her face that said she meant business. "I'm only joking with you Hope."

"Oh look it's that guy." One of Ryan's friends pointed behind her head.

The entire table looked back, checking out this mysterious guy he was talking about. "That guy is such a freak." Ryan exclaimed, while snickers and growls came from around as they gazed at Jack's hunched form sitting alone. "In gym today, the coach told us all to run the track, and this John guy tells coach 'no'. then he stormed off."

"Jack." Hope popped up, correcting him.

A resounding, "Whatever," followed. "That guy ain't right. I heard he got kicked out of his other school because he bit some kid's ear off."

"No, that's not what I heard." Kate chimed. "I heard that he was setting fires in his old school, and nearly burnt the place to the ground."

"And he has that gruesome scar. It makes it look like the right side of his face is smiling at you all the time." Faith laughed, although in all seriousness it wasn't really something to joke about.

Everyone put their input in, all trying to figure out who Jack really was. The most ridiculous one was that Jack was out on the street, raping a prostitute, and her brother who was in the mob came and carved his face up the way it was.

Hope backed away from the conversation; she was still listening, but couldn't find it in her to throw out something most likely not true about the guy. But, she was curious as to what really was going on with him. "Whoever he is, we know one thing." Faith spit out. "He's taken an interest in Hope, that's for sure."

They all stopped mumbling and looked over at her, and she could feel her cheeks flooding with heat. "Yeah, you're the only one I've seen him talk to." Kate was giving her a smile, as if saying, "OOOHHHH he likes you!"

Faith, being now a more concerned sister, added in, "But you should stay away from that guy. There's just something off about him."

"I don't know," she finally butt in. "Sure he's a little rude, but I just kind of feel bad for him, you know?"

"Just don't become friends with him. He's unpredictable."

"Faith," she started, but couldn't think of what to say next. She didn't feel it was right for her sister to tell her who she couldn't be friends with, but at the same time she knew she was probably just looking out for her. And Jack was someone you clearly didn't want to mess with. "I just feel like there's more to his story than he lets on. He's obviously been through something horrific…. And besides, he doesn't look like he's interested in making any friends."

"Fine, but if you have to talk to him, be careful."

Hope grinned, going back to eating her sandwich and gulping down her water. Enjoying the fact that Faith was looking out for her, she took one look at Jack, who in return was starring right back at her. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, but she did find him sort of attractive in his own way. It's not like she wanted to go out with him or anything, but sh liked it that he was different, like her. The air of mystery he carried around with him was appealing as well.

"So Hope," Kate's voice broke through her quiet thoughts. "How come you don't really have any friends either?" she took a bite of her sandwich before a hurtful expression appeared on her face. "I'm sorry, it didn't mean to come out like that. What I meant was, how come you don't ever want to talk to anyone?"

"Well," this wasn't much of a good subject that concerned Hope. "I'm not very good with people." Hope didn't really want to have the luxury of having friends. She would rather focus on school and her grades. Same thing with a boyfriend, it would lead to her grades dropping, and she would lose all her focus. It made her brain throb just thinking about it. "I just like living in my own little bubble you could say."

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty good, to Hope's standards. She was happy that she got a 97 on her World history quiz, even though it was on the hardest possible chapter over Ming China.

Racing to her locker, Hope dialed her numbers in a timely fashion, ready to go home. So had so much homework to do, and she just needed Faith to hurry and get the car running.

"So Hope," Faith belted in her ear, causing her to slam her head into the side of her locker. Her hand immediately shot up to her wound, which she could now feel was starting to bruise. "Sorry, sis. I just wanted to see if you were ready to leave yet."

"Yeah," she replied, wincing at the pain above the bridge of her nose, right between her eyes. She quickly shoved her binders into her messenger bag, and slid her locker door closed. "Let's hurry and go. I have so much work to do."

They graciously took their leave, piling into Faith's convertible. Pulling out of the school parking lot with a bang, Faith glanced into the rearview mirror, gasping out loud and abruptly slamming her foot on the brakes. Both girls flew backwards into the seats. "Watch it dumbass!"

They both looked back at who they had almost hit, getting anxious at a boy who stood there, peering at them. He was around their age for sure, with the most unusual raised cheekbones, thin black hair, and glasses.

He swiftly moved out of the way, and disappeared from their sights. "Was that Jonathan Crane?" Hope struggled to remember the guy, she didn't recall him going to this school.

"Oh yeah, him. He still goes here apparently." She then proceeded to back the rest of the way out without a problem. "I don't like him, he makes me nervous."

Hope let out a small giggle, "Man, I used to have the biggest crush on him in middle school."

**A/N: Done! Sorry if this chapter was really bad. Cause to me… it just seemed really bad. But I'm my harshest critic. And Crane isn't going to be a love interest if that's what you're thinking, I just threw him in there for fun. Was my Jack a little better this chapter at least? I tried to give him more Jokerisms for you guys. **

**So, I need your help with some names for a couple of people. I would like some input on a middle name for Jack, Hope, and Faith, as well as a first name for Jack's father (who will be in later chapters), and just a random guy's name for the future. I would very much appreciate it y'all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! It's little me, back from... Paris! So I didn't expect to get done with this chapter so early. I had absolutely nothing going on this weekend, and thought, "What the heck! I love my readers, so I'll make their day!" Nice response from the last chapter. I really do love you all. Shout outs to Smiele, Peroxyde, Scrambled-Dry, and my two guest reviewers. You have no idea how much I smile when I get the email saying I have a new review. I literally squeal and do my little happy dance while everyone around just stares and backs away.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything Batman or Nolan-verse related. Unless I bought them... Hm...  
**

"Hey, Faith?" Hope called over the sounds of her brain burning through her Pre Cal homework. "Do you think I could borrow your car and stop by the book store?"

Stealing a quick glance at her sister, Faith let out a wry sigh. "I thought you had a ton of homework you needed to do?"

"I do. Did. I've finished most of it. Can I please take it out?" Pleading with Faith wasn't easy, and Hope had to resort to giving her her cutest puppy dog face.

"But... It's all the way on the other side of the narrows..." The hint of nervousness was blatantly drooling off of her tongue as she spoke. "I don't think it's such a good idea at this time of night."

Hope indulged in the fact that her sister was looking out for her, but she had gone through the narrows plenty of times on her way to the bookstore, mind you it was always during the day, but she was sure nothing would go wrong. "Please Faith? I'll be fine, and back before you know it. Just don't tell mom."

Ms. Miller was always her busiest on Tuesday nights, always ending up coming home between 8 or 9. She worked in one of the least known branches of Wayne Enterprises, as the manager of Wayne Foods. She was appointed to her position by Mr. Thomas Wayne himself, days before he was tragically murdered along with his wife.

Their son, Bruce, was only two years older than her and Faith. They met with him on several occasions, but that was before he was shipped of to some private school.

Leaning towards her sister, Hope begged for dear life for the car. It took only seconds, but Faith eventually gave in, rummaging through her purse, and chucking the keys in Hope's direction. She caught it with ease, hopping off her bed and stretching her jacket on.

"I expect you home no later than 8 o'clock." Faith hollered as Hope scampered out of the room.

"Whatever you say, mom." This was going to be a simple trip. Quickly zoom past the narrows, buy herself a couple of new books, and come back within the hour.

She swiftly climbed into the car, injecting the silver key into the ignition. It was completely dark and dreary outside, and for a moment Hope contemplated on whether or not it was a good idea going out at a time like this. No, she would be fine. As long as she wasn't out too long.

Within a couple of minutes, she was hobbling down the oddly silent streets of the narrows. Normally there would have been a few drunkards, some hobos, and even a couple of prostitutes prowling around for some action, but there was not a trace of human life any where to be found. She wasn't complaining by any means, it just was interesting to think about.

Making her way to the shop was easy enough, much to Faith's critical analysis about how it would be difficult.

Hope opened the door, breathing in the aroma of fine print. This was one of her favorite places to go in the entire world. To her, it was better than Sea World and Disneyland combined.

"Hey there little lady." Floyd Lawton, a cashier only a few years older than Hope called out.

Shutting the door and brushing the wrinkles out her shirt, Hope smiled at the dark haired salesman. "Hey Floyd. Any good titles come out recently?"

Floyd's family owned the small bookstore, opening it before Hope was even born. If she remembered correctly, the shop was run by he and his parents, with the occasional surfaces of his little brother.

"Uh... Let me see." He traveled into the back, where Hope assumed the storage room was. She could hear grunts and sounds of boxes moving before he actually came back out to meet her at the counter. He was dragging four books her way, "Here." He stressed, setting them down on the counter. "We just got them yesterday. I think you might like them."

Her hands immediately shot out to touch the bindings of the novels. The firm texture of the surfaces tingled her fingers as her eyes combed over the titles. Books such as "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks, "The Green Mile" by Stephen King, and "Montana Sky" by Nora Roberts.

Hope flipped through each book, reading the backs for the summaries. Floyd curiously watched as she took her time with each novel, caressing each page delicately, so as not to disrupt the edges.

"So..." Floyd's voice spoke out, filling her thoughts and causing get ears to perk up. "What do you think?"

"Gah... I can't decide. They all look so good." She rifled through her bag, pulling out a wad of dollar bills. "What do you think?"

Shoving a pair of glasses much like her own onto his chiseled physique, he dutifully looked over the novels. "Well, I'd say since you're into the whole classic genre, get The Notebook. It seems like it's going to be a really good read."

"Okay, I'm not really into the whole romantic scene, but I guess I'll give it a try."

"Awesome." Floyd began hitting various buttons on the cash register, "Honestly, even though I'm a guy, I think I'm going to read it too."

That remark made Hope giggle slightly. It was nice to see guys taking interests in books like that. She found Floyd very interesting. He was normally quiet when she came in, never this chatty.

"Uh..." There was a confused expression about his face, while he wildly slammed his hand against the side of the register. "Sorry... This thing is acting up on me. I'll be right back."

He left, crashing into another door in the back of the shop. Hope began biting her lip and tapping her fingers against the counter, waiting patiently for Floyd to return.

"Why can't you do anything right?" A deep, muffled growl came from the other room. "You are a worthless piece of shit, boy." An agonizing thud pounded throughout the entire store, rattling the bookshelves, knocking a few knick knacks onto the carpeted floor. Hope jumped back in fear, not knowing exactly what to anticipate when the door opened. "Now get out there you asshole, and make me more money."

Hope's heart threatened to explode from her chest as the door pried open. She didn't know what to expect, and slowly backed toward the exit just in case she needed to make a hasty getaway. She was both thrilled and paralyzed when Floyd came back out. He was sulking, not meeting her gaze. His brown hair was now stained with a red substance on the side of his head that continued to dribble out. Her eyes narrowed on the cut that rested on the side of his head, now registering what the immense clack against the wall was.

Hesitant, she resumed her position by the counter as he began ramming his fingers onto the register keys. "Are you okay?" She whispered, but the look in his eye as he dared to meet her gaze gave her the answer. "Do you want me to call someone?"

"No, its fine. I'm fine. Its nothing to worry about." He punched the register one last time, before a "Ching", and the total popped up. "$7.99, please."

Hope unraveled the wad of cash, handing Floyd eight dollars. "Look, you're head is bleeding, are you sure there's nothing I can do?" She was persistent, but hoe could she not with a gash in his head?

He on the other hand, seemed to be getting annoyed with her constant nagging, until it all boiled over. "Look, I'm fine, alright?! I can take care of myself, and I don't need your help with anything!" He aggressively shut the cash drawer, and basically tossed the book in her face. "Have a nice day and come back soon." He added lastly, with an unnerving sarcastic tone to it. This was something she had never expected before. His abusive words roared in her ears; she had never been yelled at like that before.

He held out a hand to her, which she thought that for a second he might be apologizing. But upon closer inspection, she saw that the man before her was merely holding out her penny in change. "Keep it."

Her hands restlessly shook as she made her way out of the store and back to the car. Never did she ever want to have an encounter like that again.

Home had never looked as pleasing to her as it did now. She could feel the air that filled her house get warmer, or the engulfing scent of vanilla that meet her at the door. She could feel her sister gawking at get because she came home too late... She could feel engine begin to sputter, and the car begin to slow down, veggie coming to a complete stop.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Hope was now at the full peak of her wrecked ego. What was going on now? She carefully inspected the dashboard, noting how nothing seemed out of place. Could she be out of gas? No, she remembered the tank being halfway full when she first got in.

But the worst was yet to come as she loomed over where fate just happened to have stopped her. God forbid the car couldn't have died in front of her house. No, it had to stop right as she entered the narrows.

"Well, isn't this just peachy?" She mumbled, jumping from the car, observing her surroundings. Saying she was nervous was an understatement. She was full on dripping from her hands and forehead.

She only hoped that somehow there would be a way to get her out of this mess. Her mom would strangle her for going out at this time on a school night, and Faith would practically spit on her for ruining her baby.

She nearly leaped out of her converse when she spotted a payphone. At least now she could call someone and not be stranded in the middle of Gotham's underbelly. And lucky for Hope she was carrying a few quarters in change.

Racing across the street and plucking out her change, she worked wonders at dialing her house phone. The line seemed to beep for what seemed like hours until there was a actual answer.

"Miller residence..."

"Oooh thank God. Faith..."

"We aren't here at the moment. Please leave your name, number, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Bye!" The line went dead as Hope's frustration built even greater, forcing her to jab the corded phone back into its original position.

"Dammit Faith. Damn, damn, damn!" She was reaching her boiling point, for she never cursed unless the occasion called for it. "What else could go wrong?" As if something had heard her, her theoretical question was answered. First it was one drop, then a couple, and then what seemed like thousands. Within a few seconds, she was completely soaked.

Now, it was her breaking point. Every bit of frustration and anger was starting to tumble out, and she was in no position to control it.

"Piece of crap car!" Belting from her lungs as her palms slammed down on the hood of the pink car. "Why me?!" As if hitting it wasn't enough for her, she brought her right leg around, smashing her foot into the bumper. The collision sent an aspiring pain throughout her entire leg, but she didn't back down from the fight with the automobile.

And by that time she was drenched in a mixture of the water droplets that endlessly fell from the sky and her perspiration that clung to her body.

"Heh heh heh." A small snicker, followed by the sound of rustling branches came from behind her.

Hope instinctively spun around to meet the nose, praying that it was just a stray dog or cat. "He... Hello?" Her voice began to crack from the fear she held in her bones, and the freezing cold temperature her thin body sought to take on. "Is someone out there?" As if she expected them to call out and aid to her rescue.

It was then that she realized her idiotic mistakes. She should have listened to Faith when she told her not to go out, but being the stubborn person she was, she just had to go against get sister's will.

A burly man in a dark green coat stepped up from the shadows, and an eerie feel about him crept over Hope. He peered at her engagingly, a wild look in his eye as she backed away from him, straight into the car. Something in her head told her to run, but the message got lost somewhere between her neck and her hips, and she became an immovable object. She couldn't will her feet to move, and out of fear watched helplessly as the man danced closer to her. It was as if her body completely shut itself down; she couldn't even tear her pupils from his dominating stature.

It was when her eyes broke from his that she gasped when he hazardously yanked a small switch blade from his pocket.

"Do you need some help there, little girl?"

"Nnnn... nn, no." Her voice finally could break free from its gracious confines. "I'm fff.. Fine." If he dared take another step toward her, she would make a run for it. After that scene in the cafeteria, she had no doubt that she could probably get out of his way fast enough, and eventually find someone that could help her.

The rigid soles of his shoes skid amongst the pavement as he presumed his position of leering towards her. "Um….. I think I better get going now." And then it started. Hope swiftly spun around and made a mad dash for it, only to run straight into another bulky figure.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?" This new guy held her in his grasp, his fingernails digging into her shoulders. She roughly jerked away from his grasp when she could sense the blood was beginning to trickle through her clothes. She was only free for a few seconds before much to her dismay, was caught again, but by the first man she encountered.

She was now pressed between both of the crazies, as if they were trying to create a Hope sandwich. "Please….. What do you want1?" she had guts to shout at the two. "Do you need money? Please, I'll give you whatever you want as long as you let me go!" You couldn't imagine the pain that shifted in her chest as her labored breathing became short and fast. _Is this what a panic attack is? Oh God, these men are going to kill me. _

"Look beautiful, if we let you go, then you won't be able to give us what we want." The two guys gave her wicked smiles, and Hope threatened to break down right there. Her eyes widened and she knew what it meant: she was either going to be raped or they were going to kill her.

So then there was only one thing left for Hope to even consider. They might slice her throat for it, but it was her only option. "Help! Someone please help me!" she was half right. Upon hearing her desperate pleas, the men casually shoved her back against a brick wall. The feeling of needles pressed throughout the back of her skull and her spine, as well as a nauseas movement that had begun in her stomach.

Both men were applying pressure to her sides, keeping her arms and legs trapped beneath their immense statures. The first guy -who kind of reminded her of a hobo- carelessly, slid the small blade up the side of her arm slowly, tickling her flesh, and taunting her. He reached her neck, resting the cold metallic object right below her chin. _This is it. I'm going to die._

"Please…."

"Say one more word and I'll cut that pretty little tongue off." The hobo hissed, digging the knife slightly into her skin. "C'mon, it won't be that bad."

Hope's eyes begged for her to release the tears that she had fought so long to hold back. But she wouldn't let them come. If she was going to die, she wouldn't be a wimp and cry like a baby. She would have a blank expression on her face, and would look them dead in the eyes at they did whatever it was that they were going to do to her.

What happened then had never really processed through her mind. A piercing gunshot erupted by the wall next to her head, luckily missing her. The bricks shattered into tiny fragments, and the men that had been holding her down back away. Time seemed to be going in slow motion after that, and she was once again paralyzed with fear, not able to move any part of her shivering body.

There was constant yelling, but Hope's ears drowned it out until she could only hear muffled voices. Her eyes darted across to where the bullet had come from, only to see a black hooded figure approaching them. She could not see any of his (if it was a he) features, and the area where the face should have been was completely black.

He neared the men, holding his gun up, aiming it directly at their heads. He could have easily taken them out in two shots, but Hope had hoped that he wouldn't. She couldn't handle watching two people die, even if these same two people had previously tried to harm her.

So, Hope watched helplessly, glued to the wall with throbbing pains throughout her entire body as the two sides see who could outlast each other. It was obvious which side would win. Even if it was two against one, the hoodie guy had a gun, while the other two only carried knifes. It was a no-brainer to the two men as well, who scampered off before any real damage to be done.

Hope paced herself as she tore herself from the wall, grateful for this guy to save her, but hesitant to approach him in thought that the only reason he wanted to save her was so that her could do away with her himself.

She kept her distance as the hooded figure stared back at her startled Chihuahua like body. Both stood in the middle of the street drenched, surveying the other. The guy broke his gaze, trotting over to the car and lifting the hood up. Hope flinched back by the person's sudden movements, unsure of what he was trying to accomplish.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" she proclaimed, having to increase her volume so he could hear her over the rain. He made no movement that said he registered any thing that she had said, and only fooled around through the car engine. "Hello? You're not trying to take apart the car and sell it for spare parts are you?" still giving her no signs of life, she stood near him and waited, waited for what she didn't know, maybe he was helping her out with something? She only wanted to be near him just in case the men came back; at least she'd have some sort of protection.

"Thank you for saving my life." Hope finally mustered up some courage to embrace her savior. "If you don't mind my asking, who are you?" she felt like she was in a fairy tale, where the damsel in distress gets saved by the knight in shinning armor, and asks him to remove his helmet so she could properly thank him. Except instead of a knight she got a stranger, and instead of shinning armor, she got a black hoodie.

Still, there was nary a response from this stranger, only a grunt when he seemed to have hurt himself while burrowing through the engine. He pried himself from the car, slamming the hood down. "There, it's fixed." His voice was low and distorted, like it wasn't his original tone and he was purposefully giving it a gravely texture.

"What do you mean it's fixed?" Hope looked at his hand, which he was now holding onto for dear life. A three inch gash strode along the palm of his left hand, which he was applying pressure to stop the ongoing amount of blood that spilled out. "Whoa, wait you're hand is bleeding!"

She rushed to try and help him, to somehow return the offer, but he only brushed past her to the driver's side door. Dangerously swinging it open, he gripped her head with the hand that wasn't injured, and unmannerly thrust her onto the seat. "Drive home, and don't stop until you get there." He shut the door in her shocked face, and disappeared before she even had a chance to put her seat belt on.

He said it was fixed. What was fixed? The car? Well, it was her only chance to find out. She propped the key in the ignition and wriggled it until she heard the sweet sound of the engine revving. "So it was something under the hood!" Whoever this mystery savior was, he knew what was wrong and exactly how to fix it. Hope didn't know whether or not that was a good or bad thing. But she was extremely grateful for this man. He saved her life and the car. She only wished he would have taken his hood down so she could give him a proper gratitude.

She didn't hesitate at all when she staggered out of the narrows without missing a beat. All she wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed, and take a nice long nap. But boy it was going to be fun having to explain everything to Faith.

**A/N: I don't know if it's the action or the mystery, but I liked writing this chapter better than the other three. **  
**So, have you figured out who Floyd Lawton is? Okay, I'll spoil it if you don't know him, but it's Mr. Deadshot himself. Like before he became one of the world's most deadly assassins. I love him and he's my third favorite super villain, so I wanted to incorporate him in this. Hint: He might become a very important character in the future.**

**I HOPE you all have a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday, and I have FAITH that the 49ers will win... Sorry Ravens fans. But I know Beyonce will be awesome enough to soak up your tears after they win.**

**Well, as we say in my country, Bye! And don't forget to review!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry I've bee away so long, I've been traveling for some funerals because there have been a few deaths in my family. I love the response from the last chapter though. Keep it up! It's what gives me inspiration.**

**Disclaimer: I once again own nothing Batman or Nolanverse related. Don't know why you think that I would...**

Hope was extremely lucky her mother wasn't off work yet. Walking into their house drenched would surely have alerted Ms. Miller to the dangers that her daughter had faced earlier that night.

Faith was worried sick about her sister, pacing back and forth in their shared bedroom awaiting the arrival of Hope. It wasn't like her sister to stay out late, or get into trouble for that matter, which puzzled her into questioning just what her sister was up to.

When the front door finally swung open, Faith leaped from her bed, crashing through the hallway to meet her sister in the living room. "Where on earth have you been?" the immediate screeches startled Hope and irritated her ears. She finally looked down at her sister, fully taking in her soaked appearance. "Hope, what happened to you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." She fibbed, seeing how it was best if Faith didn't have anything else to worry about. "There was just a bit of engine trouble, but it's fixed and everything's fine." She wasn't technically lying, the car did break down, and it did manage to get fixed. However, she would not utter a word about the stranger who had so generously fixed the car. Most definitely both her mother and sister would hound her about taking to a stranger, let alone putting her trust in him to help her situation.

"What did you do to my car?" it was as if Hope had become background noise to Faith's precious baby. She had brushed past her sister and attempted to make her way outside when a clap of thunder jolted her from her hypnotic thoughts. A streak of light fell down to the ground somewhere in the distance, but it was close enough that it managed to illuminate their entire block. She quickly shut the door and resumed her thoughts back on her sister.

"Your car is fine. Everything's is just fine, trust me." Hope's shivering body was crying out for an ounce of warmth, but was being silenced by Faith and the cold stare she was giving her. For a split second she couldn't read into what her sister was saying through her harsh glare, and only waited, arms crossed on her chest to generate some heat, for her sister to be kind enough to let her pass into their room.

When Faith finally let her sister go, Hope had raced as fast as her frigid feet would let her, and slowly but surely pulled out a pair of pajamas and all the essentials she needed. It wasn't long before she was changed and nestled ever so carefully in her twin size bed. That's when the first sneeze came. She was rubbing her legs together under her sheets when she sneezed again. And then again. Great, this was just what she needed. She definitely needed to get a cold, and have to miss school and make up all her work while she was sick.

* * *

Hope had stayed home the rest of that week, sadly, missing three entire days of school. She had indeed caught a cold, sneezing her head off, and to add to it all, she maintained a stable temperature at one hundred degrees. It was interesting explaining everything to her mom, of course leaving out all the details of her in the narrows. It was alright for her though, Faith had brought all of her work home with her on Friday, and she had completed all but one assignment over the weekend. Though she guessed getting time off from school was something she needed. It was nice for a change to sit at home and relax for a little while, watching movies and getting a change to start "The Notebook". So far it was turning out to be a pretty good read, just like Floyd told her it would be.

Her mind traveled through thoughts of him much to her dismay. He seemed so calm before the cash register stopped working. It was only until after he came back from speaking to someone in the other room that he was distraught. She didn't want to think that the banging she heard on the wall was him being shoved onto it. But, by the way he gave her the cold shoulder within seconds of him leaving the room, she knew that it was probably the case. She didn't blame him for acting the way he did, he was obviously going through something emotional at that moment. Hope only wished that he had let her help. She could have called child protection services or something along those lines. She would go back to the bookstore eventually though, but would give him a while to cool off. She knew he wasn't very pleased with her at the moment.

When school started back up again on Monday, Hope was thankful that her illness had finally run its course. She's not afraid to say she missed her hallowed halls, even though it probably made due fine without her.

Chemistry had brought her both joy and harassment. She was excited to be getting back into the rhythm of solving chemical equations and creating atomic bonds, but was annoyed with the fact that Jack was still her lab partner and sitting at her table. It's not that she didn't like him, it's just he had a way of crawling under her skin in a way that no one else could.

He was acting strange throughout the entire class period, though. He kept his head down, and didn't utter a word of sarcasm to her. He wore an awkward large jacket, and he seemed to cover his hands up quite a bit through the passing class.

It was only when there was nothing left in class and Hope pulled out her new book that he actually acknowledged her presence. "So, what new book does the Ace have this week?" he clicked his tongue at the end of his sentence, tuning into her page flipping and such.

She hesitantly lifted her eyes from the words she was swimming in and met his gaze, noting the intent look he was giving her. "The Notebook." Was her harsh reply. There was no way he was really interested in what she was reading, he was most likely going to taunt and or make fun of her for taking an interest in such a girly book. Much to her surprise, nothing of the sort came from him. He truly seemed interested in what she was reading, and it startled her.

"So…." He had interrupted her right as she was getting back into her book. "What you did wasn't very nice, you know."

And that's where he lost her. She had absolutely no idea what he meant, or what he was getting at with that comment. "What? What the heck are you talking about?"

He smiled at her confusion, distorting his scar in a creepy grin that glared upon Hope, making her stomach want to upheave. "While you were gone, poor little ole Jack had to figure everything out on his own. Which wasn't very fun."

"That makes no sense." She blurted out loud. This guy was nuts. He was upset with her because while she was absent she wasn't there, helping him in class? "I hope you know I was sick all week long. I had a fever and I've never used so much tissues in my life."

He gave a fake look of apology, brushing his blond ends back behind his ears. "What did you do?" he asked while packing up his backpack. "Sleep outside all night or something?"

"No I did not." Man did Jack like aggravating her so. He was relentless, always figuring out new ways to make her steam just a little bit. "If you must know, I was out last night, and I had some car troubles. I was stranded guess you could say, and it starting raining. I stayed out in it a little too long I guess, and I caught a cold." Hope went back to her book, placing her bookmark in the inside and shoving it into her messenger bag. "There, are you happy now?"

He slid his tongue out to the right side of his mouth, to where it had hit the beginning of his scar. "Very." The bell finally rang from the stressed period, signaling it was time for the next class to begin. They both jumped from their seats and gingerly made their way to the door. Jack had reached his am out to open the door when she saw it. It was barely noticeable, but when his hand gripped the handle, his sleeve had moved up just enough to reveal a deep cut across his hand. She had to do a double take to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. But as she looked back, he removed his hand and strategically placed it in his pocket.

Her mind began to race. She'd seen that cut before. When the car had broken down, and that mystery guy had fixed it, he'd gotten his hand slashed in a similar manner, on the exact same hand, and in the exact same place. That didn't mean he was the one who fixed her car. There was no way it could have been him. He's new in town, there's no way he knew the narrows like the person seemed to. But if it was him, one thing would be sure: he owned gun. He probably didn't even own it, it was probably stolen. It wasn't uncommon for Gothamites to own guns, but it wasn't a pleasant thought to think that Jack might have one.

She was so focused on the possibility of Jack being her savior that she almost passed her second period. Though one thing was for sure, she was going to figure everything out, one way or another.

* * *

He wasn't at lunch. She had planned on confronting him at his secluded table, but she couldn't find him anywhere. He couldn't have just disappeared, but yet he was not sitting at any table in the cafeteria.

Hope had started to look for him again after lunch, surrounding the hallways in search of Jack. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed plausible that he was indeed the one who saved her life.

She had finally spotted him, getting his attention before he walked into his fourth period English class. She stopped short, thinking of what on earth to say. She couldn't very well talk to him there in front of the other students, and it would make them both late for class. "Can you meet me at the bleachers by the fields after school?" Lucky for her it was a Monday, and Faith had practice until four, so she would catch a ride home with her. He only crossed his arms around his chest, staring down at her like he had no clue what she was talking about. "Please?" she heard him give a tired sigh, but she took it as a yes. He quickly moved out of her way and into his class as she took her leave for her statistics class.

* * *

Hope was sitting at the top of the bleachers, contemplating just how she was going to phrase her words. It was both nerve racking and exciting for her to really find out the truth. This guy who had saved her life had been on her mind all of the past week, and she would finally breathe a sigh of relief if her suspicions were correct.

So, she waited. And waited. It seemed like hours she had been sitting at the top of the steps, overlooking the lush green fields. Pulling her arm up, she glanced over the time, seeing how it was nearly four, and she needed to head over to the gym to meet up with Faith. She had told him after school didn't she? Then where the heck was he?

Hope had been sitting there for nearly an hour, slapping the hair tie she kept on her arm, and fidgeting with her legs, bouncing them up and down, patiently awaiting his arrival.

She was beginning to lose hope, and angrily shot up from the bleachers, slightly embarrassed that she had waited for Jack for so long. He was an inconsiderate jerk to leave her here like that, and she would make sure to tell him that.

She had just barely gotten her feet on the condense grass when she heard a faint rustling coming from behind her. Her head whipped around to where the sound had come from. "What an ass." She whispered to herself. Jack had oh so casually appeared from out of nowhere, smiling and trotting to her as if nothing was wrong. "You're an inconsiderate jerk, do you know that?" even though she had called him out, he still held his head high, with his scarred smile placed upon his face.

"I told you to meet me here, after school."

"I am meeting you. It's after school, isn't it?" his sarcasm was spilling out all over the place, so much that even a towel couldn't clean it all up. "I don't remember you giving me a set time. Now, how am I supposed to know when you wanted to see me?"

"You were supposed…." She stopped midsentence, feeling her defeat. She let out along sigh, trying her best to maintain steady breathing. Boy did she want to punch this guy in the face. She knew he was right though. She never gave him a set time, but he should have known what she meant. He just wanted to see her frazzled again. "Look, Jack. I'm in no mood for mind games. I want to know the truth." Taking another deep breath, she began her confrontation. "Was it you that night in the narrows? Were you the one who scared those two goons and fixed Faith's car?"

"No." was his flat out response. Now, Hope could spot a liar anywhere. She watched their motions, and how a liar would never look her directly in the eye. But Jack, his eyes never left hers.

"Don't lie to me Jack." Hope was so sure he had been the one, right down to the cut on his hand. The cut. "I know it was you, Mr. Napier. How else do you explain the cut across your hand? The exact same place the guy who helped me cut his hand when he was fixing that car."

"I…" he began

Her hand shot up, signaling for him to stop talking. "Save it. It was you." His eyes dropped to the ground, and Hope did a cartwheel inside her head, relishing in his defeat. "Why didn't you just show yourself?"

He bit the inside of his mouth, waving his hands about, motioning Hope to take a seat on the bleachers. "Ace, there's a thing you might not know about the narrows, but it's a dog eat dog world. If those men would have seen my face, they would not rest until they found me. Look, they would probably kill me, got it?"

She nodded, her heart speeding up a little, just hearing Jack talk about death nonchalantly, like it was no big deal. "Why were you in the narrows then?" her tone of voice had fallen into a stern way as she started to get to the bottom of things. "If it's such a dangerous place, then why were you there?"

"Some personal business to tend to."

"How do you know the narrows so well?" for someone new to Gotham, he roamed about them like he had been doing it for many years. "I thought you were new."

He chuckled slightly, his browns eyes flickering with amusement by this curious girl. "Ace, I'm new to this school, not to Gotham."

Her mouth gapped open for a quick second, before she closed it, hoping he didn't notice. It made sense now, how he traveled about the narrows in the dark. He seemed like he knew it so well because it wasn't new to him. "How long have you lived in Gotham?"

He was chewing the inside of his mouth, right along his scar. He sure did that a lot. "Almost seventeen years." But his hands were shaking a little as he spoke, as if he was uncomfortable with talking about it. What made him seem so nervous? Was it the thought of Gotham? Or his age?

Whatever it was, it didn't go unnoticed. "How did you know what was wrong with the car?"

"I saw the guys take the spark plugs out."

"So you were stalking me?" she laughed out loud, feeling very, very blond at the moment. "That's great. That's just great. So I bet you know where I live, and everything else about me and my family, right?"

He shook his head awkwardly, almost like a dog would. "I only saw them remove it. It was only after you got in that I realized whose car it was."

Well, that was a little less unnerving. At least he wasn't just stalking her. He must have a good knowledge of cars if he knew what was taken out and exactly how to fix it. Then that brought Hope to the thought of what event had happened just before he popped the hood. When those two guys grabbed her, they backed off when a bullet had chipped the brick wall they held her up against. It had been so close to her head, only a few millimeters closer and she would have been hit. She wouldn't be sitting there today.

Hope realized she had stopped speaking, creating an awkward silence between the two. _He_ _has_ _a gun._ She didn't want to think of him as a murderous person, but felt grief stricken when she finally uttered enough courage to speak to him again. "You could have killed me. That shot was inches away from my head."

"I have a good aim. I've had a lot of practice." Hope's eyes widened, and she slowly started sliding a little bit to the right, just in case she needed to make a quick getaway. "Don't worry." He could feel her worry being around him after learning that information. "I was only joking."

Hope took one last look at her watch, seeing it had reached four o'clock. "One last question." She took a glance back, eying the teams cramming out of the gyms from practice. "Why did you do it? Why would you risk your safety in order to save me?"

"You sound ungrateful."

That was the last thing she wanted to sound like. "No, I truly am grateful for you to have been there, I mean, I know what they would have done to me if you didn't scare them off but…." Oddly, the scar along her left arm began to itch infinitively. Her hand shot up to it, lightly rubbing the sides with her thumb to relieve the irritating sensation. "You could have walked away, and pretended like nothing happened. Why didn't you?"

He took a moment to gather his thoughts, breaking out of his trance as he tuned into her words. "Let's just say I want to protect my investment."

"How am I your investment?"

As if Jack completely ignored what she was asking, he broke from her sight, erratically jumping down from the bleachers, landing on his feet, with almost cat-like agility. Not feeling like their conversation was done, Hope quickly followed behind him, before getting the upper hand and stopping in front of him completely. "What do you mean by investment?"

She just wouldn't let up, would she? That was okay, he needed to tell her his plan, and how she would fit right into it, like his little pawn. "Well, your mom works at Wayne Enterprises, right?" he waited for a response, but cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth. "I happen to know that they're having a Banquet for the company and all of its investors."

"Yes, but how'd you…."

"Sh." He cut her off, covering his hand over her mouth. "Don't interrupt Ace. Like I was saying, all the employees and their families have been invited to this little get together. And I know you'll be there." He removed his hand, placing it into his jacket pocket. "This is where I need your help."

"What do you want?"

"Let's just say young Brucie has something of mine. I'd really like it back." He began trudging away from her again, suddenly feeling slightly bored. "If you could maybe get me in there, cause some sort of distraction, I could get it without a problem."

"What is it he took from you?"

"Ah ta ta." He turned on his heels to face her, "So curious. That's for me to know. And you to question." Taking a step towards Hope, he peered down onto her, indulging in how he could make her feel uncomfortable sometimes. "Think about it Ace. I don't need an answer right away. But might I just add in that it would be thoughtful in returning me for last week."

Was he seriously going to hold it over her head that she owed him big time for saving her butt that night? "Why ace?" she had to ask. "What's the meaning of that nickname?"

"An ace is the only card in the deck that could go both ways." He sunk his hand into his pocket, taking out an object. It was only when he handed it to her that Hope realized it was an ace of spades. "Depending on how you use it, it could have the lowest value, or the highest. So, it could either be the good card, or the bad one. I like to think everyone is a different card."

Hope eyed the card intensively, studying the colors and the shapes that engulfed the paper. "So let me guess, you'd be the Jack, right?" when she got no response, she pulled away from the definitive card, only to realize that she was talking to empty space.

**A/N: Well there you go ladies and gents. Please review, I know you want to.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updating, been really busy with school lately. I know that's not an excuse, so I made this chapter extra long. Yeah it's nearly double my other ones.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing DC or Nolan-verse is mine. Never will be, okay?**

The Following Saturday

That gracious night was the annual banquet for the employees of Wayne Enterprises. The event was planned accordingly, and no time wasted on it throughout the past months. As it would seem, the coordinators were still rushing to complete to look of the place, from setting the last crystal centerpieces on the tables, to testing the microphones upon the stage and dusting the lights perched on the 3rd story balcony.

"Testing. One, two." A crew member called from the stage, addressing the two other workers that were currently hold up in the systems booth near the far end of the house-sized ballroom. "One, two." He called into the other three mics, taking extra caution for the prestigious event that was set for a few hours later.

Wayne Manor had looked better than ever; better than its already delicate furnishings and architecture. It had only been a few years since the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, but still, Mr. William Earle, after being promoted to CEO of the company, wanted to proceed with using the manor as the home for the banquet, not wanting to distill the tradition from so many years past.

Looking over the entire room Mr. Earle held his head high, beaming with pride from the direction he was leading the company in. It was evident that the night was going to go swimmingly. _That is of course, if the young Mr. Wayne_ _decided to show up and actually pretend like he was enjoying himself. _ Earle thought, rubbing his forefinger gently across the curve of his brow.

The heir to the family business clearly had other things on his mind; mainly hanging out with Rachel Dawes, his lifelong friend, or causing mischief around the Gotham square. But he was supposed to attend the banquet, to stand as his father did for so many years, to try to live up to everyone else's expectations. Not only did Bruce not showing up to company events make himself look bad, but it made all of Wayne Enterprises and its employees look bad as well.

* * *

It was around 5 o'clock at the Miller house, and all the women were busy in their beginning preparations for the banquet. They only had two hours to get ready, which seemed like an eternity for Hope, but Faith insisted in the thought that they should have begun in the wee hours of the morning.

But, as usual, that was just Faith being, well…. Faith.

Hope was alone in her room while her mother and Faith were struggling to do their hair in the bathroom. She was casually pacing about the room, unknowingly twirling her fingers through her blond hair while her mind was racing through the belittling thoughts that plagued her. She was obviously distraught, and if anyone had happen to walk in on her, they would immediately throw her curious glares, before questioning her on as to why she was acting like she'd seen a ghost.

_Something's going to go wrong. _She thought. _I shouldn't have agreed to this. _But she felt morally obligated to. Jack had saved her in such a way that she could never imagine of ever possibly repaying him, and she felt indebted to him. He would most likely hold it over her head for as long as he could, until she finally gave into to what he wanted. And so she did.

"_Fine. I'll help you, but only if I'm the one who does it." _She finally caved in after days of torturous stares and being pushed by him against her had naturally raked her mind over the situation, compressing her thoughts and playing out anything that could go wrong if she'd say yes. Ultimately, against her better judgment, she said yes, wanting to help him in any way she could. For one, she felt if his story about Bruce was true (and there was a high chance it was), she felt the need to help Jack because whatever Bruce took from him was obviously needed. And two, Jack had just been bugging her so much that she was contemplating hitting him over the back of the head, even though it probably wouldn't do anything, just to get him to shut up.

"_I'll only go through with this if you promise to stay away and tell me what it is you need." _He promised that he wouldn't get in the way, and that he would tell her what he was looking for "at a later time". Well, it was the night of the party and she hadn't heard diddly squat from the mysterious, yet infectious guy.

Hope seemed to be tracing about her bedroom for hours, feeling as if she was burning holes in the carpet as she groggily dragged her feet along the old fabric. It was only when Faith rushed into the room that she paused, steadying herself and getting back to a regular routine.

Faith gave her a wandering eye, but it was quickly dismissed as she stormed around, looking for any traces of her makeup bag. Hope, trying to look relatively normal, was prodding through her closet, pulling out her dress for the gala and gently laying it across her bed.

It was a teal blue silk dress that cut off just above her knees, and flared out along the sides of her legs. It had a sweetheart neckline, with ruffles that faded into the middle, and her favorite part was the lighter lace sleeves that fell down to her elbows, giving the dress a more dramatic look, but also hid the scar along her left arm.

Her mind kept drifting to other places. Mainly to her nervous physique that was well hidden, but most definitely there. She assumed the little chase of theirs would go according to plan, and being actually invited to the party would give her the edge she needed and would help if she were to get caught. And the charming Bruce Wayne wouldn't be there. He never attended any of the Company's events anymore, so she was sure she was in for the win.

Dang, she still needed to know just what is was she was supposed to be retrieving for Jack. _What on earth could Bruce have possibly stolen from him? How do they even know each other?_ Agitated, and her mind still racing, she bit her lip, in hope that it would distract her from everything.

* * *

It wasn't long before the Miller women were putting the finishing touches on their ensembles, brushing back any loose ends of their hair, and dabbing the last amounts of products onto their faces.

Faith and her mother went all out, both darkening their lips with a deep shade of rouge, and smoky ash eyeliner to complete their dark look. Ms. Miller was dressed in a floor length, body fitted cerulean gown, with halter straps and a crimson sash that embodied her waist, knotted at the side, with the two ends hanging off. Faith's spread consisted of a thigh-length, strapless black dress, with bright diamonds embroidered along the A-line top, light ruffles falling down her legs.

Nights like this happened often for the women, Faith relished in them, while Hope didn't really care for them as much. But this one was going to be especially interesting. The whole thing with Jack (which she was now having doubts about), and the fact that her mother was receiving an award for being with the company for twenty five years, an accomplishment not easily managed at Wayne Enterprises.

But still, Hope's mind traveled to what on earth Jack was trying to do. She was still curious as to what exactly he was so keen on getting back, and regrettably, something panged at her somewhere deep within, something she didn't think of before. _Once he gets his…. Item, would he not want to bother with me anymore?_ Oddly enough, she had grown accustomed to his presence from the two weeks past, even though she still barely knew him.

Jack had imprinted her though, being the only other person she could confide in and talk to during school. She had never really been open with people, but now that she was growing more as a person, the thought of him not wanting to talk to her anymore was utterly startling. They had become friends. Not close friends, considering they've only known each other a few short weeks, but they were friends, right? _I'm doing a favor for him, that's what friends do. That's what I'm doing. For a friend. A friend who saved my butt might I add._

Hope snapped out of her thoughts when she was roughly shoved into the bathroom by Faith. "Hope, you need to add something to make your ensemble pop!" before Hope could put a word in, a tube of red lipstick and mascara was thrust into her face, jarring her vision a moment before she recovered.

"I really don't need anything. Beauty shouldn't be shown on the outside. It's what's on the inside that matters." She scoffed, holding the products out to her twin. "Besides, I feel like a clown when I've put all that gunk on in the past. It's not natural."

Reluctantly, Faith pulled the applicants from her sister's grasp and set them down on top of the marble counter. "Fine. But it would mean the world to mom if you would try to look nice. It's her night you know." Faith gave her a scolding look, pleading with Hope with her entangled eyes before removing herself from the room.

_Mom's night._ She thought, feeling maybe Faith had a point. _It would only be for one night. Mom's night. _Breathing in deep, she exhaled all her inhibitions and cautiously twirled the lipstick tube until the top spoke out, and she finally stole a glance at the deep shade of red. And it _was _red. It almost had a blood-like tint to it, and she shuddered as she gently brought the tip to her lips. Now her mouth felt waxy, and boy did both her blond hair with that shade of red stand out. It was like a sign was pointed at her saying, "Look at me! Look at me!"

She took her time with the mascara next, taking her glasses off and dabbing the brush into the mascara a bit before pulling it back out and examining it. She had only once before put on mascara, when she was ten and her mother took them to a ballet in the theater district. _Here goes nothing. _Carefully so as not to stab herself in the eye, she slowly rubbed the brush along her lashes, her eyes watering occasionally, but not enough to smear the "gunk".

Satisfied with herself, Hope dug the mascara brush back into the tube and set it back down on the counter. She gently tucked her glasses back through her hair so she didn't mess up the curls that flowed so gracefully down her shoulders. Looking through her lenses, she could barely see any change in the volume of her lashes. That was okay though, she really didn't mind. At least she could say that she had actually put some on. She took one final look at herself, shockingly discovering just what a difference a little bit of makeup could make. Even with the little on, she looked like someone else entirely. _Like Faith. _

Ready as ever, she pried the bathroom door open, meeting an all too happy Faith deriving off of the way her sister was appearing. Hope could almost hear her snicker or say "I told you so", but beat her to the chase. "This is not for me, but for mom." Which was almost a lie because on the inside she was almost liking this look on her.

But, that was all beside the point. She needed to focus on how this night was going to be a special one for her mom. Hope had completely dismissed the thought about helping Jack, over one hundred percent sure it wasn't going to happen. So now all she had to do was put on her poker face and enjoy herself for the evening.

Slipping on her pair of black converse, she met the other two, who were patiently waiting by the front door.

"Ready?" Her mother asked, stretching her arm out and opening the door. The question didn't really require an answer, so the twins flew from the house, and all three piled into Ms. Miller's black Pontiac.

Within minutes, they had entered the Palisades, and the car slowly pulled up the gravel stone driveway. There was already an enormous amount of cars lined up, waiting for valet parking. When a man in a red jacket approached their car, the women climbed out, and the man drove off as the keys were handed to him.

Butterflies had actually started forming in the pit of Hope's stomach as they closed in on the entrance of Wayne Manor, something that rarely happened. Maybe it was because she was actually pleased with herself this time. Maybe this was something she might like. _Maybe I could….. _Her breath stopped short when she caught site of the wondrous ballroom. It was so much more elegant than last year's, which is hard because everything was always known to be exquisite.

There must have been over a two thousand people in the room, more than the previous year (which was only about one thousand or so). Everyone was dressed in the regular attire, formal gowns and suits, mingling throughout the white linen tables and shuffling amongst the lighted décor which was elegantly strung along the balconies and tossed around the doorways.

It was definitely a picture perfect moment, which was probably why there were so much paparazzi hanging out by the front gates and cramming to get a photo of the rich Gothamites.

Ms. Miller led the way, handing her coat to the small check-in before finding their table. Upon sitting down at their designated seats, the older William Earle casually strolled over to them, a giant grin plastered on his smug lips.

"Well if it isn't the Miller women." He announced, bringing his hand up and shaking all of the girls'. "I wanted to give you a personal congratulations on your award tonight Elisha. It is truly a great accomplishment. You really have done so much for this company, and I know Thomas would be very much appreciative, as am I."

Hope thought she saw her mom blush, but she couldn't tell in the dark lighting. "Thank you so much William." She gave him a cheeky smile, revealing her white grin. "You remember my girls, right?"

"Ah yes, the twins." Earle uttered, taking in the appearances of the two younger women. "My, my, my. You two are the spitting image of your mother when she was about your age. Which if I'm right, was about the time she started working for the company."

That was a high compliment for Hope, who adored her mother so much. Being a single mom, and raising twins for the past sixteen years, she was like a god to her. There were no words that expressed how much she loved her mom, and being compared to her was something that made her soar.

"Mr. Earle, how are you?" Faith merrily chimed in, butt-kissing levels rising.

"I'm wonderful. Just trying to maintain the glorious empire." He gestured his arms outward before returning them back to their original position. "And what about you two? How is the twin telepathy? Or is it that you can feel when the other one has just gotten hurt?" Earle gave a wink in Hope's direction, and she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Something about the man just made her nervous. Maybe it was the fact that after the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, he vowed to take the company in "his direction".

"Oh, you know us." Hope spoke sarcastically. "We can always hear each other's thoughts and whatnot." It might have sounded ruder than it should, but she just wanted him to leave them alone and go pester some other unknowing person.

Earle must have not her the demanding tone in her voice, by the way he kept smiling down at her, but both her mother and Faith did, each one tossing her a stern look.

"Well, it was great seeing you again Elisha," Earle spun to face her daughters, "and you two girls. But I have to oversee the final preparations for the presentations tonight. We're starting in in a few minutes, so I'll catch up with you ladies later." He turned to leave, but quickly circled around, like he hand forgotten something important. "Oh, and if I forget later, Elisha, may I say that you look ravishing." He looked over her shoulder, seeing the twins, so to make it less awkward added, "You all do. Enjoy your evening."

Hope felt nauseas as he walked away, sneering at how he was obviously flirting with her mom. _You look ravishing. Ugh. _The thought of him and her mother didn't sit right, but hopefully it was all in her head. Her mom couldn't possibly be interested in a guy like that. She couldn't see her mom with any guy, really. She'd pretty much been a one man woman. Not saying her mom couldn't date, because she wanted her mom to be happy in any way possible, but she just didn't want her mom racking through the possibility of dating William Earle. It made her shiver just thinking about it.

Trudging the thoughts away, Hope took a seat in between her mother and Faith, while they patiently waited for the presentation to begin.

* * *

So many awards for the company, more than last year. Hope had counted over one hundred have been given out already, and none of them had been the twenty five year award for her mother. _That's alright. _She thought. _They always save the best for last_.

And indeed, it was the last award to be called out. A woman who worked at the company, who Hope had completely forgotten the name of, took her place on the stage and gave a long spiel before actually pulling out the award. It was a small one, shaped almost like a…. well in no better words, a golden leaf. But it was still magnificent. From where she was, she could see it was beautifully crafted, but she very much wanted to see it up close to get a better look.

"And I'm pleased to present this award to a woman who has spent many sleepless nights devoting herself to Wayne Foods." The woman started. "I am honored to welcome Elisha Miller up to the stage."

Within a few seconds, a spot light was shown directly over her mother, and Hope couldn't help but throw herself at her and hug her tightly. Faith joined in as well, and Ms. Miller had to force her way out of the bombardment from her daughters. She gracefully made her way to the stage, her eyes glowing and the white lights beaming off of her. Hope sat back down, and truly was enjoying the moment. She was so proud of her mom, no words could describe the feeling she got watching her hold the award while standing at the podium.

"Gosh, I knew this was coming, so it wasn't much of a surprise but…."

A tap on Hope's shoulder averted her attention from her mom. She glance behind to see a white haired older gentle man standing over her. "Excuse me miss." He spoke in just above a whisper, but his heavy English accent still poked through. "Ms. Miller, there is someone asking for you."

Who could be asking for her? "I'm sorry, can it wait? My mom is on stage and I would really like to see it." But her voice was becoming just background noise as Hope stared up bewildered at the strangely familiar man.

"I'm sorry, but he says it's urgent."

Urgent? What could possibly be so urgent that it would deprive her from watching her mom get the biggest appreciation award of her life? And a he? Who on earth needed her right at this very moment?

Faith had turned to her, glaring down and throwing her daggers, mentally stabbing her if she didn't handle the situation.

"And I just want to thank my girls, Hope and Faith," Both girls widened and focused all their attention on their mother once they heard their names. "They are my inspiration, and the only reason I get out of bed in the morning. I come to work every day knowing I'm supporting them, it's nice to know that I'm doing something right. Thank you."

Hearing the end of her mother's speech brought tears to her eyes, but she almost forgot about the man standing over her. She watched as her mom exited the stage, and stood up to follow the man, who now seeing him in a better light, she realized it was Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred. Now she remembered him. She had met him a couple of times in the past, but only at the events Bruce attended. Which meant, if he was here, then Bruce was too. _Maybe I'll run into him. _She hadn't seen Bruce in a few years, it would be nice to catch up with him, which is if he stopped his little rebellious phase she knew he was having now.

Casting out that incredulous thought, she followed the butler away from the crowd of people, her brow starting to sweat when he stopped and pointed her into the direction of the person who called on her.

She could see a figure in the shadows, leaning his back with one foot against the wall. Upon approaching, Hope could see that the person was dressed in grey suit, something not too fancy, but something that was casual enough to pass for any other occasion.

She turned to she Alfred had gone back to the party, leaving her and the figure alone. She was still a little timid about who it could possibly be, until he dared to step from his darkened hiding place. Her heart sunk when she saw who it really was, but then mentally cursed herself for not connecting it earlier.

"Jack…." It came out in a low, disbelieving tone. "What are you doing here?"

His eyes darted from her red lips down to her dress, chuckling a bit on the inside as he thought about how she _might _look nice dressed in that fancy attire, but then reprimanded himself to think of the task at hand. "I told you, Brucie has something of mine. I've come to get it back."

Hope let out an aggravated sigh, disappointed mainly in herself because she didn't see this coming. "But how did you get in?" She was holding herself back from raising her voice above a whisper, but the angrier she was feeling herself become, the louder her words became. "You couldn't have gotten in, it was invitation only."

"They basically have sub-zero security down here." He laughed, stretching out his scar. He hastily threw his hand over her mouth, hoping to shut her loud mouth up. "Ace, you should probably keep your voice down, we don't want to alert anyone to my…. Unexpected presence, do we?"

Hope retaliated by swiftly knocking him away from her face. "You have to leave. I've already missed something important because of you, and I'm not letting this ruin the rest of my evening."

Jack's smile turned sour, curling into a disfigured frown. "Look, I'm not leaving here until I take back what's mine."

"Jack…."

"So," he cut her off rudely. "You can either help me, and I can get out of here faster or, we can just wait here, missing this little shindig while you make up your mind."

She thought about her options, but only felt it was fit to go along with the first one. At least then he could leave and not disturb the event. "Fine," she began, bringing her hand up and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I get you in, you get what you need, and then you scram, got it?"

Jack was surprised by the tone she was reprimanding him with, seeing as though he had actually struck a nerve within her about formal get-togethers like this. "But what if I want to stay, and enjoy the music? They have some good food, maybe I'll…"

Hope threw her pointer finger in his face, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Listen to me Jack Napier, you get your thing and get out, don't think about staying. Please, don't mess this up for me. Not just me, if we get caught, this will affect my mom and her job here."

"Fine." He snarled through his gritted teeth, but he wanted to laugh at how amusing she could be when she was angry. It was side he wanted to see more of, not this quiet, shy loner he had grown accustomed to. "Ace, stop taking things so seriously. Now, lead the way."

Sighing, she wrapped her hand around his wrist, tugging him through the large building. She had only been in this part of the buildings a couple of times before, so she had to dig through the diluted parts of her brain to try and figure out where to go. _Now, _she thought_. If I were Bruce and I had stolen… whatever it was he stole, where would I put it?_ The only place she could think of was his room, which was probably locked.

To her surprise, there was absolutely no guards or housekeepers around, although there probably wouldn't be, since there was a huge gathering going on in the other part of the house. She felt so much better knowing no one was around, and she only prayed that nothing could go wrong.

She glanced down at her hand, seeing that Jack's was still under her grasp. She hadn't noticed that she had been holding it the whole way, and awkwardly let go. She heard Jack giggle, and wondered why he didn't remove his hand from hers earlier. Surely he didn't enjoy the touch, he could have broken the hold anytime he wanted to, so why didn't he?

Hope paused when they reached a staircase almost completely hidden by dust covers. _A-Ha!_ She mentally cheered. If she remembered correctly, his room was right around the corner. She slowly took one step up, and turned around to make sure Jack was still behind her. He was following close behind, both exerting energy as they climbed up the stairs.

They stopped in front of a mahogany bedroom door. "I think this is it." Jack stuck his hand out and grasped the door knob. "I don't think it'll be unlocked…." But he had already twisted the knob, and the door swung open, giving out a loud, startling creak.

"Go keep watch." He growled, and she could see the determination he had on his face as he entered the room. Whatever it was he needed, he wanted it bad.

Hope did as she was told, jumping back down the steps and examining the entryway for any sign of life, but not before she got a good look into Bruce's room. At least, she hoped it was Bruce's room. Saying it was giant was an understatement. The room was about the size of her living room and her bedroom combined. And that didn't include the height.

She waited patiently as Jack did the devil's deed, silently trying to figure out just what he was looking for, while her eyes kept caution on the room before her. _C'mon, c'mon Jack! What is taking so long? _

She nearly peed herself when she felt a finger tap her twice on the shoulder. Her heart rate began to speed up greatly, and she knew they had been busted. Turning around slowly, she was prepared to give an apology, but forgot everything she was going to say as she faced the devilishly handsome Bruce Wayne.

"Well, well, well." Were the first words out of his mouth as he stole a few glances at her. "Faith Miller, right?"

"Ugh…." He thought she was Faith. She didn't know why, because the glasses totally gave her away, but out of desperation, she nodded her head, not clearly thinking of what she was doing. "I…. um, I can't believe you remembered me Bruce." She tilted her head, checking to see if Jack had come out yet. The door remained slightly cracked open.

Bruce gave her a dashing smile, and she almost went weak at the knees. Boy was he even cuter than she remembered. "How could I forget the twins? Hope and Faith." He gently lifted her hand, lightly placing a kiss on the top of it. She blushed widely, but hoped he didn't notice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to retrieve something from my room." There was a hitch in her breath and she had a vision of him walking in on Jack and calling the police. "I'll see you back in the ballroom."

Jack still hadn't poked his head out of the room yet. She had to do something, but what? "Wait!" she screeched, pulling him back to face her. "Um…. W-w-where's the bathroom? I couldn't find it earlier, and that's how I ended up here and I really need to go." Hope found herself rambling, something she did when she got too nervous or was lying.

"Sure," he laughed turning away from the stairs and back to her. "There's one right down that corridor. It's the first door on the left."

Looking up once more, Hope saw as Jack finally made an exit from the room. But Bruce was still there, as soon as he turned his head he would catch Jack in all his thievery. Jack sent a look to Hope, silently pleading with her to keep Bruce occupied until he could find a way out. She was smart, she could think of a way out of this.

Jack waited behind a pillar, and Hope did the first of her two options. She grabbed Bruce by the arms and pulled him into a forced embrace. "Thanks so much Bruce!" she tried to usher Jack out of the way with her arms, but accidentally jiggled Bruce a little in the attempt.

He broke apart first. "Is everything okay?" he turned his head slightly, and Jack thought for sure he was busted. But then, Hope grouped his chin and forced his eyes back to hers.

"Oh course everything's okay!" she tried to play it off while signaling Jack to the exit with her eyes. _Okay, option two it is. _"I just wanted to give you this!" In her last resort to keep Jack from being spotted, she closed the space between her and Bruce, roughly crashing her lips down onto his.

While still in his embrace, Hope popped her eyes open, looking to check on Jack. He wasn't anywhere to be seen. But, her kiss with Bruce didn't go unnoticed.

Hope pulled away from Bruce, who had an arrogant grin on his face, one which she wanted to smack off. "Okay, well I'm going to go find the bathroom now, so…. Bye." She awkwardly left him standing there awestruck and she damned herself for doing that. Maybe if she would have had more time she could of thought of a better plan, but it seemed like her only option. And luckily, Jack had snuck off without being noticed.

Boy, was she glad she told him she was Faith. She wouldn't be able to handle it if he knew she had just done it. And it was a good excuse because she felt nothing for him, and he thinking it was Faith would help prove it.

Walking back around to the ballroom, she couldn't help but smile at the situation. It was the first time she had done something gutsy like that. She kind of liked the little adrenaline rush she was now falling from.

"Hey!" her mom called as she returned to the table. "Where have you been?"

Hope laughed internally. "I was just in the bathroom."

**A/N:** **Just letting you know, there will not be any Bruce/Hope action going on here. Maybe in the future I might dabble a little bit of him and Faith (since he thinks she's the one who kissed him) but other than that no.  
But hey, don't leave your presence unannounced. Favorite, follow, or review! Or do it all...**


	7. Authors Note (Please don't kill me)

Okay guys... I know you are all wondering when I'm going to be updating this story, since it looks like I haven't done it since around March... Which is really bad. And I'm so sorry.

A few weeks after I posted the last chapter my mom had to be taken to the hospital, and I never had time to update, or did I even think about it. She was there with some sort of lung infection (a major one) and they had to go through surgery or else she would have lost function in that lung. She's been recovering these pasts months and I've been helping her and finishing up school.

But I promise this story is not abandoned and I WILL finish it. I have to go back a reread everything I have so far so I can get in the right mindset for the story, and then I will post another chapter. So there will definitely be a new update in store for you guys very soon.

Thanks so much for sticking around and for not giving up on this story.


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